


step by step (i'll hold your hand)

by monsimkkung



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: 3+1 times, Fluff, M/M, jooheon is loved, matching socks, minhyuk is an enthusiastic puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 21:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsimkkung/pseuds/monsimkkung
Summary: Jooheon finds Minhyuk constantly bringing endearing moments into his life.orThe three times Minhyuk shows his support for Jooheon and the one time Jooheon does the same.





	step by step (i'll hold your hand)

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: I wanna live in your socks so I can be with you every step of the way.

Kihyun walks out of the kitchen and casts a dismayed glance towards the blonde young man currently occupying the stool behind the counter. Changkyun, a college student working part-time in the bakery, is too busy to shoo away the loitering bastard, who, despite taking up space, doesn’t even try helping with the growing line of customers.

Kihyun slides open the glass door of the display case. Empty plates are taken out and the spots are replaced with new ones stacked with freshly baked pastries. Kihyun waves Changkyun over to have him take the empty plates away before he starts tending to the customers.

“Those look delicious,” The blonde young man comments as he moves to let the waiter pass by. “Are you sure–“

“Minhyuk, do you ever feel you spend more time in my bakery than in your own store?” Kihyun scowls. The next customer in line halts. He quickly casts her an apologetic smile and rings up the two apple muffins.

“Hoseok’s got it covered. He’s a good worker so there’s no need to worry.” Minhyuk chirps.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Kihyun hands a box of egg tarts to an old man. He puts on a warmer smile as he does so. The old man is a regular and picks up egg tarts for his grandchildren every other week, and Kihyun would’ve asked how he is doing if Minhyuk wasn’t there bothering him.

“You’ve got food here. Am I at least allowed a bite before I go back?”

Minhyuk makes to steal some of the unattended cookies beside the cash register but stops short once he notices an absolutely stunningly gorgeous guy walk through the door. He freezes as he takes in the view. The guy’s got wavy black hair, chubby cheeks, and thick thighs. Minhyuk feels his mouth water when he sees how thick those thighs are.

His hand is still in the cookie basket when Gorgeous Guy approaches the counter.

“Hey, Kihyun-hyung,” Gorgeous Guy greets Kihyun, who fist bumps him in return.

Minhyuk watches Gorgeous Guy pick out a blueberry muffin and a brownie, looking all sorts of attractive while doing so. He has never imagined anyone would look so good picking out afternoon snacks until now.

When Kihyun is putting the goods into a paper bag he says, “Do you want some croissants? They’re fresh from the oven.”

Gorgeous Guy shakes his head. “Not today, hyung. I’ll get fat if I don’t control myself.”

Kihyun laughs. “You’re not fat. And I love your cheeks anyway, honey.”

Minhyuk snaps out of his trance at the word ‘honey’. He can’t believe his ears. Did he just hear his friend call Gorgeous Guy ‘honey’? His friend, who is in a stable relationship, calls Gorgeous Guy ‘honey’?

“Are you cheating on Hyungwon?” Minhyuk asks.

Both Kihyun and Gorgeous Guy still suddenly. They turn to look at him, both have on incredulous expressions.

“What the fuck? No.” Kihyun answers. “This is Jooheon. I’ve told you about him.”

“Jooheon?” At the mention of the name, Minhyuk’s eyes widen impossibly. “Lee Jooheon? Your roommate when you were in France? That ‘soft, fluffy, squishable’ Jooheon?”

“I didn’t know Kihyun-hyung liked me that much.” Gorgeous Guy, apparently whose name is Jooheon, laughs. His grin is so bright that Minhyuk’s heart misses a beat, and his has dimples so deep that Minhyuk feels he can drown in them.

Jooheon extends a hand. “Hi, I’m Jooheon. Though, most people call me Honey. It’s a nickname.”

Minhyuk retracts his hand from the cookie basket.

“Lee Minhyuk, Kihyun’s best friend even if he denies it every time.” He pauses before adding, a slight tease in his voice. “Nice to meet you, Honey.”

 

-

 

1

“Hyung, you really didn’t have to do that.” Jooheon stares at the rather eye-catching van parked across from Hope Bakery. It’s making him feel a little weird. After all, it’s not every day he sees a van plastered with an enlarged picture of himself.

It has been three weeks since Minhyuk and Jooheon met. During which Minhyuk learns that Jooheon came back to Seoul because he was hired as a composer for a music company, and that he and Kihyun got in touch again not long after. Jooheon has expressed a strong interest in Kihyun’s baking, which, Minhyuk thinks, just makes Kihyun even cockier than before.

But the most exciting thing to Minhyuk is that Jooheon is about to have his own radio show. ‘DJ Honey’, as Jooheon calls himself, will begin bringing audience quality music next week. Of course, Minhyuk immediately offers to help with promoting.

Hence the rented van covered with Jooheon’s picture, next to which are the words ‘DJ Honey’s White Sugar Radio’ in large print.

“Seriously, Minhyuk. When you ran in and yelled for Jooheon and me, I thought something caught fire. I wasn’t expecting to see… What is this anyway?” Kihyun comments, arms crossed.

“This is for Jooheonie’s promotion!” Minhyuk ignores his best friend and turns to Jooheon. He grins. “I hope you get a lot of recognition.”

Jooheon wonders if his face hurts from the wide stretch. It’s a nice sight though, he thinks. Minhyuk is fairly attractive in his own hyper-enthusiastic way and Jooheon finds himself liking the blonde’s personality a lot.

“I’ll drive this baby around the city the next few weeks. Gotta make sure people see.” Minhyuk smiles at Jooheon. Jooheon feels something warm flow through his chest.

“You know, when I say you spend too much time in my bakery, I mean you should be manning your bookstore, not… Not going to places even farther from it.” Kihyun sighs.

“Hoseok’s got everything under control. I think you should trust him like I do.” Minhyuk says. Kihyun only sighs again before heading back to save Changkyun from customers.

“Hey, Honey.” Minhyuk steps closer to Jooheon once Kihyun leaves. “Do you want to go for a drive now? I’ll let you ride shotgun.”

Jooheon flashes a smile back and Minhyuk’s heartbeat quickens tenfold.

 

 

2

Ten months after Minhyuk and Jooheon began dating, Jooheon decides he wants to bake something for his boyfriend on their first anniversary. Therefore, he asks Kihyun for help one day and has been taking lessons from him since then. From Kihyun’s perspective, however, he kind of wanted Jooheon to fail at baking so that freeloading bastard Minhyuk wouldn’t get more loot. Fortunately for Minhyuk, Jooheon is actually quite good at baking and Kihyun is still not evil enough to destroy natural talent.

Kihyun has taught him how to make banana bread this week, and Jooheon is reviewing on his own when Minhyuk drops by. Minhyuk soon finds the dough left for fermentation, and coos at how cute it looks, just sitting there silently.

“I’m pretty sure I’d scream if the dough is not ‘just sitting there silently’, hyung.” Jooheon frowns. He would absolutely flip out if he heard the dough make any sound.

“I mean it’s just… So cute.” Minhyuk pretends to poke at a bigger piece. “You guys are so cute.”

“Are you talking to the dough?” Jooheon asks. And when Minhyuk nods he only hums in reply. He has seen his boyfriend do a lot of weird things and this is far from the weirdest. If he’s honest, he might even say Minhyuk is endearing like this.

Minhyuk leans in a few seconds after, all his upper body over the tray in this position. “You guys are going to become beautiful banana breads soon. Grow up well, okay? Honey here is learning baking and he’s really working hard. Please don’t disappoint him. I believe in you guys.”

It’s the most heartfelt thing Jooheon has ever heard anyone say to a tray of dough. He smiles to himself as he watches Minhyuk name the pieces. His boyfriend really is something special.

He can’t wait to learn how to bake Minhyuk’s favorite muffins for their anniversary.

 

 

3

“You’re actually here today.” Hoseok says, surprised, when he sees Minhyuk walk through the door of Last Page Books since it is a rare occasion for him to see his boss at work.

“Well, Jooheon has to work and freaking stingy Kihyun kicked me out.” Minhyuk huffs.

Hoseok notices Minhyuk’s carrying a basket with him. “What’s that?”

“Oh, uh. I’m going to knit today.” Minhyuk shows Hoseok some of the yarns in the basket. They’re colorful.

Hoseok raises a brow.

“I’m knitting a scarf. Or something like that. I’m not really sure what I can make yet.” Minhyuk realizes he needs to explain more at Hoseok’s two raised brows. “It’s for Jooheonie. He told me the other day that he’s going to Russia during the winter. Think it’s a winter music camp for the Korean students there.”

“Wow. That sounds very cool. Russia.” Hoseok nods, impressed. “Must be cold though.”

“That’s why I want to knit something for him… It probably won’t help with warmth though. But I want him to have something to keep his heart warm.”

“That’s really sweet. Jooheon is lucky to have you.”

Twenty days later, when Jooheon gets teary over the small puppy and bee icons at the corner of the red scarf, Minhyuk remembers Hoseok’s words. And he thinks Hoseok is wrong, because Minhyuk is for sure the lucky one here.

 

 

+1

Jooheon doesn’t enjoy knitting more than he enjoys baking, he realizes as he enters the third hour sitting in the same spot, weaving and weaving and tiring his eyes out. All the white and blue have seem to begin to blur and mix together and he can’t be sure if he is still doing it right anymore. He knows he probably should rest, but he is kind of on a clock.

Soon, it will be Jooheon and Minhyuk’s third Christmas together. He wants to give Minhyuk something that is not expendable (his cookies were finished almost as soon as Minhyuk opened the box) or useless (he agrees with Minhyuk that a decorative glass pane was impractical), and instead something the both of them can use daily.

He yawns and resumes to his task.

 

Turns out Jooheon’s hard work pays off quite well.

Minhyuk is happily admiring the two pairs of socks he just fished out from the huge Christmas sock. His closes his fingers around one sock, the white and blue poking out between his fingers.

“This is so soft! So comfortable.” Minhyuk exclaims, excitement evident in his voice. “I love them. This is so beautiful. Oh, Honey. All the effort you put into this. I’m so touched.”

Jooheon laughs. He carefully takes out something from the pocket of his coat. In his hands are two other pairs of socks. They are also in white and blue, with the same patterns as the ones Minhyuk received. However, where it is white on Minhyuk’s socks is blue on Jooheon’s, and vice versa.

The socks are matching and complementary pairs. Minhyuk is buzzing with bliss when he realizes.

“Jooheonie! We match!” He engulfs his boyfriend in a tight hug. Seconds later, he steps back and holds Jooheon by the arm, and screams, “We match! We have matching socks! I am so happy.”

“Well, hyung. Remember the scarf you gave me,” Jooheon says. He continues when Minhyuk nods, “I loved it, and… I want us to have something that matches, too.”

Jooheon stops talking and smiles, but Minhyuk feels there is more than that from the way the younger is biting his lips.

“And? Are you leaving out something?” He asks, tilting his head.

“Umm. This will be a bit cheesy. And embarrassing. But… Remember what you said to me on our second date?”

“Sorry. I said a lot of things. I talk too much and I don’t really keep track of everything.” Minhyuk laughs. “Enlighten me please.”

“You used a pickup line on me. Even though we were already dating.”

They both chuckle.

“You said that you wanted to live in my socks so you could be with me every step of the way. And I remember that because, well, aside from odd, it was so cute.” Jooheon blushes. “Hyung, you were so cute. I melted when you said that.”

Minhyuk playfully hits him on the shoulder, but his expression is shy. He likes Jooheon calling him cute. Jooheon takes Minhyuk’s hands in his, the socks squished between their palms.

“So I guess, I just want to say the same thing to you. That I want to be with you every step of the way too. Merry Christmas, hyung.”

“Merry Christmas, Honey.”

Minhyuk closes his eyes as he leans in to kiss Jooheon.


End file.
